Assisi Manifesto: a call to action for a new economy

On Friday 24 January, the Assisi Manifesto will be officially presented in the town of Assisi. We at Way2Global, as the 520th signatory, wish to express our support and our full endorsement of the points outlined in the programme and above all we want to share the goal for which it was written.

“We will be in the Papal Hall of the Sacred Convent of Assisi with our mind, our heart and all our commitment, just as we are among the 1500 signatories of the Manifesto for a people-oriented economy.”

Laura Gori, Founder & CEO of Way2Global – Translations

This charter is the result of a desire to act to resolve the climate crisis, which requires each and every one of us, as a company, an institution and, first and foremost, as a person, to courageously face the imminent emergency.

Inspired by the encyclical “Laudato Si’” written by Pope Francis, the leading advocate of sustainability and a new, better business model, the Assisi Manifesto is a challenge that Italy and Europe must take on to guide metamorphosis of the economic paradigm, to make it possible to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, and to curb climate change.

In Italy, the leading European country in waste recycling and at the vanguard of a more sustainable circular economy, it is hardly surprising that such an initiative has immediately attracted the attention and commitment of over 1,500 entrepreneurs and businesses, all willing to form an alliance in the name of a better future for everyone based on a more people-centred economy and society.

Naturally, the signatories included our Founder & CEO, Laura Gori, who, on behalf of all of Way2Global, which was founded as a Società Benefit and later certified as a B Corp, signed the Manifesto to affirm the company’s shared values, principles and objectives.

Far from being an impromptu act, this signature is part of a journey on which Way2Global is firmly committed to the new industrial policy proposed by Assisi and Pope Francis: a benefit model that balances the pursuit of profit with social impact, fully aligned with the vision that we have chosen for ourselves and with our way of doing business.

This journey began last year when a young representative from Way2Global attended the Percorsi Assisi circular economy training school. It will end in late March with the company’s participation in the three-day event “The Economy of Francesco”, at which Pope Francis will bring together over 2,000 economists and entrepreneurs under 35 from all over the world to sign a pact that expresses both their cry of alarm and their dreams.

The goal of the Manifesto: to make an all-Italian contribution to building a more sustainable, civilized, kind world, thanks to a new economy based on values and ethics, as well as a respect for the environment and people, rather than one that only aims to maximize profit.

It is no coincidence that the promoter of this initiative is Ermete Realacci, president of the Symbola Foundation, who has been championing and bringing together Italian expertise since 2005, organizing research programmes, events and projects that contribute to enhancing our country by focusing on sound principles such as innovation, development, sustainability, the value of human capital, support for the local area and openness.

Besides the Symbola Foundation, the first signatories and co-authors of the Manifesto include, among others, Confindustria, Coldiretti, Enel, the Franciscans of the Sacred Convent of Assisi and Novamont, all united in the noble aim of promoting the green economy to make our companies more competitive and to create jobs within a production system defined by its quality, beauty and efficiency.

The presentation on Friday 24 January will be attended by, among others, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the President of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, who are also important signatories and supporters of what appears to be a very challenging set of targets, but is of enormous significance for the new decade.

It is a major event to celebrate “a new alliance between the business world, society and culture to jointly build an economy that can boldly face the climate crisis”, according to its creators’ own definition.

“We all have the role of repairers, which means believing in the possibilities available to every one of us, in our talents, in order to put them to use and to make the world and ourselves dream in a different way”.

Father Enzo Fortunato, director of the San Francesco magazine